


touch on you more and more every time

by leeinthesky



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/F, Friends to Lovers, They're cute, and a lil oblivious, around mombie dearest, background lizzieg for those who care, hope is so whipped, let hope and lizzie be besties, mg is such a good friend, omg first legacies fic, set in season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21520462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeinthesky/pseuds/leeinthesky
Summary: hope mikaelson doesn't have friends.josie saltzman proves her wrong with a kind smile and a soft touch.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 35
Kudos: 376





	touch on you more and more every time

**Author's Note:**

> lee's first legacies fic everybody say heyyyy!
> 
> seriously though, i've had this sitting in my google drive since last year and only now had the energy to finish it as i was given life by our hint at a hosie endgame tonight. be kind, i finished this quickly and didn't proofread.
> 
> this is dedicated to everyone in the fpl group chat on twitter, to alex, who said he was dying for hosie fics and got me to finish this, and anyone else in need of something new to read
> 
> (also miss julie plec please don't remove me for copyright these are your characters i'm just having fun with them)

hope mikaelson doesn’t have many friends.

in fact, until a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have said she had any at all. but then josie saltzman had taken her side during that community service (even if it was just to spite her sister) and helped hope realize that she could have friends if she wanted them. 

and although she swears she isn’t, hope is lonely. coming back to school after her father had died had been hard; kids either wanted nothing to do with her or everything to do with her but for all the wrong reasons. so hope had sat in her room most days and hardly came out until alaric pulled her out and told her to get to class. since then, she still hardly speaks to anyone she doesn’t know, and even then she hides herself behind barbs and low blows. 

hope reminds herself of her father. 

‘make a good friend,’ emma tells her and hope thinks hard. who would be willing to be friends with her? rafael is still upset that she had voted landon out of the school, landon himself is off god knows where finding his mom, lizzie saltzman practically hates her guts, and hope thinks maybe she needs to work up to the amount of socializing it takes to be good friends with mg. 

which leaves, in her small group of close acquaintances and so called avengers squad, josie saltzman. 

they had known each other their whole lives, of course. but hope had always been jealous of the easy kindness she had and the quick friends she made. lizzie was wary of hope from the beginning, perhaps seeing how she stuck to alaric’s side and how he stuck up for her and perceiving a kid in need of an authority figure as hope taking her dad. and of course josie stayed in this opinion with her sister, or at least supported her in it, so whenever the claws came out between lizzie and hope, josie was stuck on one side or as mediator. 

(hope remembers how once, when the twins had just turned twelve and she was thirteen, she had included josie in a barb meant solely for lizzie. after the way her face had fallen and her eyes filled with tears, hope firmly decided never to include josie in her insults of lizzie. she hadn’t been sure why then, and she still isn’t entirely sure now.)

but hope knows josie had been right. they were all to blame for the way their relationship had played out. no one was sure who had poked first all those years ago, but they definitely played their parts dutifully. and loathe as she is to admit it, hope wants to be friends with the saltzmans. she’s always wanted the kind of sisterhood they have with each other, the inside jokes and the late night hair braiding sessions, and it’s been harder to keep up the facade of stoic indifference/borderline dislike hope tries to show. she’s sure josie has noticed, and she isn’t sure whether to be annoyed someone sees past the mask she keeps up or glad she doesn’t have to be so closed off around josie. 

it all comes to a head one day when lizzie angrily and loudly rants to her sister in the halls that hope only stands for herself and would destroy everyone else if it means she got to live. it hurts, and even though hope is determined not to let it get to her, her heart twists. josie turns and fixes her eyes on her, face sad, and hope immediately knows she’s seen right through her.

the next class they have together is advanced physics. although they sit on opposite sides of the room, hope can feel josie’s eyes on her, like magnets willing hope to look at her. she makes it halfway through the class before she caves, and when hope turns her head to josie, the younger girl gives her a small wave. she looks away, and suddenly a note appears on her desk. hope turns back, and can still see the siphoner’s hand emitting a small glow. she notices josie’s perfect, loopy cursive and reads the note.

_‘i’m sorry about lizzie earlier.’_

hope looks back towards the other girl, who is still staring at her sadly.

_‘it’s okay. not like there’s anything you could do about it_ ,’ hope sends back, expecting that to be the end of it.

she should know josie better than that. seconds later, the note reappears. ‘ _it’s not okay. and her anger is misplaced; she’s mad at dad, not you. doesn’t help that penelope has been taunting her all week._ ’

hope doesn’t know how to respond to this. she knows that what josie is saying is only partially correct- yes, lizzie is mad at their father for picking hope over them most of the time, but with that hope is included. and she’d really rather not get into whatever passive aggressive games penelope park is playing with her ex. but she does have one burning question. before hope can even think twice about it, the note is gone and she can’t take it back.

‘ _do you agree with what she said earlier?’_

the note isn’t even gone a second before it’s back on hope’s desk. ‘ _no_.’ hope can’t help the way her head snaps up to look at josie, and when she finds her eyes they are full of a fire and confidence that is rarely seen lurking there. josie smiles reassuringly, and when hope returns it tentatively, her face breaks out into a full grin. it makes hope’s heart sing, but nothing is better than the way josie’s fingers brush hers on the way out of class.

maybe that is why she does what she does a few days later.

as lizzie stomps towards hope just before lunch, hope is inclined to believe that it is just another one of her tantrums. what stops her is not the way lizzie growls at her so viciously that she could be a werewolf, but the tears and hurt on her face as she does it. a few more steps into the atrium confirms hope’s belief that something is going down.

hope has never seen josie so angry. her whole tiny frame is shaking with rage and her fists are balled up by her sides. standing in front of josie is no other than her ex-from-hell herself, plus her posse of devoted followers. kids are starting to gather to watch the fight go down, and although penelope is keeping her bored and unbothered persona up, hope knows she is relishing this. 

‘oh, come on, sweetheart. i was only kidding around. lizzie shouldn’t dish it out if she can’t take it,’ penelope drawls with a small smirk.

josie looks like she might launch forward and punch her ex in the face. ‘don’t call me that.’

‘she’s using you, and you just let her do it. doesn’t it ever get tiring?’ 

she’s putting on a show, hope notices. there’s real pain behind her words, but this little display isn’t about getting josie to admit she’s codependent. this is for inflicting maximum damage.

‘she’s my sister, and if you ever cared about me, you would leave her out of this!’

‘sweetheart-‘

hope has to step in. ‘i’m pretty sure I just heard josie ask you not to call her that.’

josie seems surprised to see her there, much less sticking up for her. penelope, on the other hand, just quirks her eyebrow and looks happy to have someone else to insult.

‘mikaelson,’ she hums, crossing her arms. ‘adding another saltzman to your collection? or is it that you recognize another broken toy when you see one?’

the kids in the crowd snicker and josie looks like she’s been gut-punched.

‘josie’s not a trinket for me to ‘collect’,’ hope shoots back, unnecessarily angry at this and the look on the saltzman’s face. ‘you know penelope, maybe if you had understood that josie doesn’t need to be fixed, your relationship would have ended differently.’

this strikes penelope where it hurts. ‘don’t you ever,’ she snarls, ‘assume to know about what happened between me and her. you have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘well, let’s see.’ hope pretends to think it over. ‘i know you broke up with her over a text. i know that you were constantly trying to change her into something she’s not. and i know that even a year later, you’re still tormenting her.’

the crowd of people watching is absolutely silent. penelope’s mask falters for a split second, and hope can once again feel josie staring at her. 

when penelope speaks again, there is no smirk. there’s no easy confidence or laid back demeanor. this is pure ice, pure malice, all of her playfulness from before gone. ‘well, it seems little josie saltzman has gotten herself a guard dog. unfortunately for you, jojo, this little rescue is all bark and no bite. are you getting extra credit for pretending to put up with her, or is she only being friendly because your father asked her to?.’

‘you know what, penelope? every time you speak it becomes increasingly clear that you’ve never had a real friend in your life,’ hope practically spits out. she turns to josie, who has steel in her eyes, and says almost conversationally, ‘i can see where you were going with the whole ‘light her on fire’ thing, but haven’t you ever seen the wizard of oz?’ she discreetly intertwines their pinkies and squeezes, giving her permission. hope sees that josie understands. ‘the only way to melt the wicked witch is with water.’

penelope also catches on, and tries to use a deflection spell, but hope mutters the counter spell moments before a wave of water splashes down on the witch and her clique of mindless worshippers. the crowd of watching students goes absolutely wild, jeering and cheering and laughing, but neither girl sticks around to see the satisfying look of shock on penelope park’s face. one stalks off towards the dorms and her sister, while the other ambles off to lunch while contemplating why she’s just doused the only person who could maybe take her in a fight.

despite sharing three other classes with each other after lunch, neither girl approaches the other or even looks her way the rest of the day. although they sit across from each other at dinner, not a word is spoken directly to the other the whole time. hope worries that maybe josie is mad at her for some reason, until later that night when she is sitting in the library.

‘is anyone sitting here?’ the familiar voice is uncertain, as if she’s sure hope will say no. hope just smiles as she looks up from her book.

‘no, go ahead,’ she practically begs. old hope would have made up an excuse about needing to do something before leaving, but the new hope is pleased with the soft smile that lights up josie’s face as she sits in the plush chair opposite hope. 

they sit in comfortable silence, each reading their respective books, for a few minutes before josie speaks.

‘thank you.’

hope doesn’t need to ask what for. ‘of course.’

they’re quiet again for a moment.

‘why’d you do it?’

the question takes hope so off guard that she forgets to speak for a moment. ‘what?’

‘why’d you stand up to penelope like that? I know you guys were on mostly good terms, so why’d you throw it all away for me?’ josie asks, looking small.

‘yeah, we were on good terms, but josie, you’re my _friend_ ,’ hope explains, and at least that’s what she’s been telling herself all day. ‘i wasn’t going to just stand there and let her insult you.’

‘oh.’ josie’s blush is pretty and she looks pleased. ‘good. i mean- you’re my friend too.’

hope’s heart flutters. ‘good,’ she manages.

the next time either of them speaks is to say good night at curfew.

this goes on for weeks. hope and josie sit next to each other at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, pair up for projects in class and study together in the library. lizzie tolerates this, if only because when hope is around penelope park keeps her barbs to a minimum. because mg is arguably josie’s best friend, hope also spends a lot of time with him. although she thought that his bubbly personality would be draining for an introvert like hope, she finds that he never expects her to talk or attempts to force her into the conversation. mg even lends hope one of his comic books after he catches her trying to read it over his shoulder in civics class. 

having friends is weird, hope thinks. there’s a lot she doesn’t understand about it, but also she thinks it’s like having family. they bicker and joke all in the same instant, they stick up for each other in one breath and rag on one another in the other. hope tends to be too honest, to always say what she means, and while that can create problems for her, the group seems to mostly appreciate it and let her know when she’s being too harsh. 

when she finds herself hoarding the last few pudding cups for the twins at dinner, a warm feeling washes over hope. she knows them, and it’s a wonderful feeling. josie has an extra carton of chocolate milk when she sits, and hope realizes it’s for her when lizzie slides it over to her and begins to split the pudding between her and her sister. all of the small doubts hope had about the nature of their relationship disappear in an instant. _they know each other!_

hope doesn’t know when her feelings for josie start to shift. it’s subtle, almost imperceptible, until all she can think about is the brunette saltzman twin. she closes her eyes and sees josie asleep on her desk during the most boring history lecture of all time. she daydreams about the way josie scrunches her nose when she laughs and how she tilts her head just so when she’s thinking hard. hope finds herself having to remember just to breathe in her presence, which is annoying because hope never thought she’d find herself this far gone about anyone, much less josie saltzman. 

as much as she hates to admit it, hope is...scared. josie is her first good friend and she doesn’t want to lose her over some stupid romantic feelings. which is what hope has. for her. josette saltzman. god, could her life get any weirder right now?

well, think and it shall be, or whatever. 

it starts on the twins’ birthday. hope spends hours debating the moral and ethical issues of practically casting a spell on someone without their knowledge with herself and emma and mg (although she told him it was for her ethics of magic class), but in the end decides to go ahead with her present for josie. in between last period and dinner, when the twins go to see their dad, hope slips in their room and leaves the envelope under josie’s pillow. 

it only goes down from there, with hope trapped in the gym with an angry and cagey rafael. he’s mad at her for voting landon out, and she gets angry with him once she realizes he’s playing with lizzie’s feelings. they’re both mad at penelope park, the orchestrator of their captivity, but hope more so than him. josie would think she was ditching her party. hope hated any kind of social gathering with a guest count over ten, but this was important. she thought about josie in her dress- white, strapless, flowy, hope had nearly had an aneurism when josie had tried it on for her- coming down those big stairs to no one. she should be there, but instead she’s stuck with a passive aggressive werewolf leaning to the more aggressive side of the spectrum. 

they finally get out of the gym, but josie’s not at her party. she’s not in her room or in the garden and when hope sees alaric frantically questioning his dead wife and the dirt on her hands, hope’s heart drops and she feels like she might be sick. there’s no hesitation as she grabs a shovel and starts to sprint towards the cemetery. penelope park is an odd and mostly unwelcome addition to her search party, but mg’s vamp hearing definitely comes in handy. 

the absolute relief hope feels when josie finally breaks through the dirt is indescribable. it takes all of her self control to not bend over and pull josie into a tight hug, damn penelope and mg and anyone else watching. but the poor girl looks like she’s on the verge of a panic attack, so hope just wipes the dirt off of her face. her heart swells when she sees her necklace sitting prettily and untainted on josie’s chest. 

‘it worked,’ hope says, and though she was confident in her magic it sounds shocked. ‘the charm worked.’

‘what was it for?’ josie asks. she looks more glad to be alive than violated, and hope takes a steadying breath. 

‘making quiet things heard.’

the siphoner distractedly grabs the necklace and looks up at hope with an odd look in her eyes. it makes hope’s heart all fluttery but she holds josie’s gaze until penelope coughs and mg rushes forward to help josie up and give her his suit jacket. 

they’re on their way back to the school when josie looks around and asks, ‘where’s my sister? where’s lizzie?’

penelope park scoffs and rolls her eyes, but hope thinks it’s sweet that josie looks to her sister for comfort. there’s a difference between putting lizzie first all the time and this. josie just needs her sister, just like lizzie needs josie (even if that happens more often). hope is starting to see why penelope and josie didn’t work out; it irks hope that pen can’t seem to understand that lizzie and jo are a package deal. so if she ‘accidentally’ steps on the heel of park’s shoes, well. she can always say she didn’t mean to. 

‘when i left her she was searching for you,’ mg assures her softly. 

they aren’t even to the courtyard before they hear lizzie’s frantic voice calling out for her sister. josie sags in mg’s arms a little and when lizzie runs out from under one of the garden arches, killer heels in hand, she finally starts to sob. 

‘oh my god, jo!’ the blonde twin cries out, and hope doesn’t know how anyone could claim that lizzie doesn’t love her sister. she rushes over and gathers her into a huge hug and lets josie cry into her shoulder. ‘what happened? are you okay?’

‘obviously she’s not okay,’ penelope scoffs and hope kicks her slightly. now is _not_ the time.

‘i’m fine,’ josie hiccups as she wipes away her tears. ‘it was mombie dearest, you were right.’

‘that makes me feel terrible,’ lizzie laughs a little. ‘i’m sorry i left you alone with her, i should have known better.’

‘you couldn’t have known, lizzie,’ hope cuts in. ‘i think she was possessed.’

the twins look shocked at that, but they don’t have a chance to answer. dr. saltzman runs through the same arch lizzie had appeared from earlier and hardly gives the group a second to react before they’re all swept up into another hug. (say whatever you want about lizzie getting her dramatics from caroline, alaric saltzman could give her a run for her money- nature versus nurture, anyone?)

‘oh, i’m so glad you’re okay,’ the headmaster sighs as he releases the students from the death grip. ‘girls, come with me please. it’s time we ended this.’

hope doesn’t like the way that sounds, but she doesn’t have much of a choice except to let dr.s take the twins by the arm and lead them into the school. she finally lets herself take a deep breath and isn’t surprised when penelope park pushes her way past mg and hope to follow josie inside. hope wonders if penelope will ever give up trying to win the saltzman back; every time hope thinks pen may be winning back ground in josie’s heart, she ruins it with some half concocted plan and an unfortunate insult. for some reason, hope doesn’t really want her to quit. it might be a sign of the apocalypse if she ever does. 

hope is snapped back to the present when mg lets himself fall onto a stone bench. ‘man,’ he half sighs half laughs, ‘i think that’s the craziest shit that’s ever happened to me. and last week, you killed a giant spider.’

‘yeah,’ hope agrees. mg pats the spot next to him on the bench, so she sits next to him. she takes a page from lizzie’s book and kicks off her too-tall heels. hope is surprised when mg lets her rest her legs on his lap and plays with the end of her puffy skirt. it’s caked in mud, something that would have usually annoyed hope, but tonight she isn’t too worried about it. 

‘is it ruined?’ mg asks, pointing to the mud. 

she shrugs. ‘probably not. i know a good cleaning spell. and anyways, that’s not really what i’m worried about right now.’ 

they sit in silence for a few moments before mg says, ‘poor twins.’

‘poor _josie_ ,’ hope corrects. ‘she’s the one who got buried alive.’ 

‘lizzie didn’t have a great night either. raf pulled a pretty douchey move and broke her heart at her party, then she realized her sister wasn’t just late. we were walking up to the dorms to find her when lizzie said she couldn’t breathe.’ mg shrugs, but hope can tell how bothered he actually is. the boy’s got it bad, and it’s an added bonus that he would platonically die for either of the twins. ‘i thought she was just having a panic attack but then i realized...’

‘the twin bond,’ they finish together. 

more silence. the school’s gardens are beautiful during the day, but at night they’re positively serene. since they’re out in the country, there isn’t any light pollution, and hope can tilt her head back and see the stars. she names the constellations: andromeda, cassiopeia, draco. 

‘i think i’m a bad friend,’ hope finally says casually. 

‘excuse me?’ mg looks like he’s been caught so off guard and sounds so confused that hope doesn’t think he could be faking it. 

‘i mean, i don’t really have a benchmark,’ she shrugs. ‘but i practically put a spell on josie without asking her, i didn’t have lizzie’s present done in time for her birthday so she probably thinks i just didn’t get her anything, and i told rafael not to string lizzie along which made him break up with her on her birthday. and i missed their party. also i’m keeping a secret from both of them.’

‘oh my god, hope,’ mg laughs. ‘you’re not a bad friend.’ she must look unconvinced, so he pushes on. ‘look. did you charm jo without asking her? yeah, but it saved her life. all you have to do is tell lizzie her gift isn’t finished, and she’ll understand. you were being a good friend by telling rafael to cut it out, and you didn’t tell him to end it on her birthday. penelope park made you miss their party, and i’m pretty sure i know the secret.’

hope sighs and is finally able to relax a little. so she isn’t- wait, what? ‘you know my secret?’ she asks incredulously. 

the vampire looks pleased and also a little amused. ‘sure. it’s about josie, right?’

she actually does not know how to answer that. saying yes would be acknowledging her feelings, which was terrifying, but to deny it would be a lie. hope hates lying but also admitting that she has feelings of any sort, let alone romantic ones. 

‘you don’t have to answer that,’ he reassures her. ‘it’s just that, uh, i’ve noticed how you look at her.’

‘oh my god.’ as she groans, hope allows her forehead to fall onto mg’s shoulder. she feels that shake and knows he’s laughing at her, but she doesn’t particularly mind. hope shoves him slightly but she’s already laughing with him. 

‘if it’s any consolation, she looks at you the same way.’

hope’s heart stops. ‘what?’

milton greasley is a lot of things, but a good liar he is not. he’s telling the truth. ‘yeah,’ he says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. ‘she looks at you like you hung the moon and fart rainbows.’

‘she does not.’

‘does to!’

‘mg,’ hope says sternly. ‘do not get my hopes up.’

her friend raises his hands in defeat and shrugs. ‘alright. i just wanna be best man at your wedding, okay?’ 

‘sure, whatever.’ 

somewhere, the curfew bell rings and hope removes her legs from mg’s lap so that they can stand. as they make their way up to the dorms, hope thinks about what mg had said. could josie possibly feel the same way about her? it made her giddy to even think about the possibility of reciprocation. an actual relationship might kill her. 

they finally make it to the third floor, and mg gives hope a hug and a look before wishing her goodnight and leaving her for the vamp wing. hope’s feet carry her past her own room and don’t stop until she’s standing outside the twins’ room. she lifts her hand to knock, but then thinks better of it. what if they’re already asleep? 

‘lizzie!’ she hisses through the door instead. ‘are you still awake?’

hope’s enhanced hearing helps her hear the patter of feet on hardwood and seconds later the door opens. it’s lizzie, as she expected, who opens the door and quietly steps out into the hallway. 

‘hey,’ the blonde whispers. ‘jo’s already asleep.’

‘yeah, i figured.’ the conversation stalls and hope wonders why she came here instead of going straight to bed. ‘is she...are you guys okay? what happened with zombie mom?’

‘ _mombie_ ,’ lizzie corrects with a small smirk. hope has noticed that dry humor and sharp sarcasm are what get lizzie through most of her hardships, real or perceived. the smile melts off her face as she leans back against her door. ‘you were right, she wasn’t really her. or she was, but something else was calling all the shots. we...we siphoned the magic that was keeping her here away.’

‘oh my god.’ alaric had made them do that? practically kill their biological mother? just thinking about it was making hope mad. 

‘we agreed to it,’ lizzie says gently, like she can almost read hope’s mind. ‘it wasn’t safe for the school, or her, or dad, quite frankly. so we agreed to it. jo’s taking it a little harder.’

‘i don’t blame her.’ hope is still trying to wrap her head around the whole ‘siphon the magic out of your newly reunited biological mother’ thing, and adding that to the very near death experience as a result of said biological mother plus the closeness hope knows josie felt towards josette...that is what emma would refer to as a ‘dangerous emotional situation’. 

lizzie sighs. her eyes close and she plays with a small chain around her neck- hope doesn’t know how she’s never noticed the gemini constellation that hangs from it. 

‘i don’t know how to help her,’ she admits quietly. ‘she always knows what to do to help me, and the one time she needs me i’m totally lost. she says she’s fine, but i know she’s not.’

hope tries to answer- wants to, in fact- but she knows she won’t be much help. lizzie herself had once referred to her as ‘emotionally constipated’. 

‘just...give her time. don’t pressure her, but tell her you’re there for her when she does want to talk about it,’ hope says. 

the blonde thinks about this, then smiles softly. ‘thanks,’ she says sincerely. lizzie turns to go back into her room, but stops. ‘by the way, dad’s sending us to go see our mom for a few days. just thought you’d want to know.’

the way lizzie says the last sentence is odd, and it holds a connotation that hope can’t quite grasp. ‘thanks for telling me,’ she says instead of asking what her friend means. ‘that’ll give me time to finish your birthday present.’

the smile that lights up lizzie’s face is blinding. suddenly, hope knows what mg sees in her. rustling from inside the twins’ dorm room snaps hope out of whatever weirdness is going through her head. 

‘lizzie?’ josie calls out, and the way she sounds so scared breaks hope’s heart. 

‘i’m right here!’ her sister calls back reassuringly. ‘i’ve gotta go, i’m sorry,’ she says quickly to hope. 

‘yeah, no, of course. go be with josie,’ hope nods. ‘i’ll see you in a few days.’

‘see you. don’t do anything too stupid while we’re gone.’

the door clicks shut and hope is left out in the hall alone. past curfew, the school is so quiet, and if hope wasn’t ready to get out of her party dress she might just not have made her way back to her room. but she’s tired, and her feet hurt from her heels, and she needs to process everything that’s happened. turns out, wandering the halls of the salvatore school would not have been a good idea, because the moment hope sits on her bed she falls into a deep sleep. 

when hope wakes up the next morning, she’s already missed breakfast and the twins are gone. also, there’s a necromancer. THE necromancer. they bring cassie, rafael’s dead girlfriend, back to life. they also taunt hope to the point where she works her way into their head by force and uses mg as an accomplice, which achieves absolutely nothing. if nothing is getting her friend in major trouble and also opening one of the gates of hell. 

hope is on day five of mg not speaking to her and day three of a dr. saltzman- mandated week of extra chores and detention, which hope didn’t even know they had at the salvatore school. she knows she’s massively fucked up in so many ways, but she has no idea how to fix it. the silence of the kitchen with no mg chattering away or lizzie charming her outfits to change color or josie singing little songs she comes up with on the fly is overwhelming, and it’s very easy for hope to fall back into her self-doubting, self-destructing habits considering that the necromancer literally just turned her life upside down. hope had been so sure that her father was at peace, that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. and for the person- thing- that had carried his soul to heaven or hell or wherever he was to say that klaus mikaelson would never find peace until she did put her squarely back at a ten on the ‘beat myself up’ scale. which, ironically, would do nothing to help her father. 

‘i thought i told you not to do anything stupid while we were gone?’

hope never thought she’d be happy to hear lizzie saltzman’s voice. the girl is standing in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed and looking unimpressed. 

‘hello to you too,’ hope snarks back, but there’s a smile growing on her face. ‘where’s josie? how was europe?’ 

lizzie’s eyebrows twitch upwards and hope wonders what she found interesting. ‘paris was great. and jo is upstairs taking a shower. c’mon, let’s go see her.’

‘actually, i can’t.’ hope gestures to the dirty dishes all around her. ‘i’m supposed to clean all of these by hand, no magic, for being stupid.’

‘what, didn’t i tell you?’ lizzie asks innocently as she flips her hair over her shoulder. ‘i got you out of your prison sentence. now come on.’

hope laughs incredulously. ‘elizabeth saltzman, i could kiss you right now.’

she has to walk quickly to keep up with her tall friend. why does lizzie take such long strides? and also wear boots with a heel when she’s already 5’10 to hope’s sort of-kind of 5’4? they’re halfway up the grand staircase when lizzie fake retches. 

‘gross! save that for my sister.’

hope physically trips up the stairs, which she didn’t think was possible. 

lizzie looks unimpressed. ‘did you forget how to walk or what?’

‘what did you just say?’

‘i- i asked if you forgot how to walk?’ the blonde looks a bit worried now. 

‘no,’ hope says, exasperated. ‘before that, about your sister.’

‘oh.’ it’s lizzie’s turn to look flustered, like she didn’t even realize what she’d said. ‘i mean, do you? want to kiss josie.’

hope might as well die on the stairs, right there. lizzie looks down at her expectantly, and she knows she’s caught. the siphoner cracks a grin when hope groans and sits up. 

‘you do! oh my god. my dad owes me ten bucks,’ lizzie exclaims, sitting down next to hope. 

‘wait- your dad? you guys were betting on my relationship with your sister? shouldn’t you be more bothered by this?’ hope is aware that she sounds a little frantic but lizzie doesn’t seem to mind. 

she shrugs unapologetically. ‘i’d rather she date you than evil incarnate. i think you’d be good for her, mikaelson.’

hope is strangely touched by this validation. ‘thank you?’

‘no need,’ lizzie shrugs it off and climbs the rest of the stairs. 

the rest of the way to to dorms is quiet. kids are supposed to be in class and also hope has no idea what to say after she just admitted she has feelings for josie. _josie_. 

‘how is she doing?’ hope asks softly, and there’s no need for lizzie to ask what she’s talking about. 

‘better, i think,’ the blonde asserts, looking hopeful. ‘it was good for her to be away from here for a bit. she still isn’t really great at night, which, like, _understandable_ , but it helps her to have a light on somewhere. mom helped her with some calming spells she can use if she starts to feel too overwhelmed.’

‘that’s good,’ the tribrid sighs in relief. ‘good. sounds like you were able to help her after all!’

they get to the twin’s room, but josie’s still in the shower. 

‘want your birthday present?’ hope asks with a small smile. the look on lizzie’s face is hilarious, somewhere between a kid on christmas and a middle aged white mom on black friday. hope summons the canvas and finds that she’s suddenly nervous. ‘sorry it took so long. i had to figure out the right spell and then i had to actually paint it and- you know what just look at it,’ she says as she shoves the canvas at her friend.

lizzie gasps, which sounds like a good thing. painted on the canvas is a nighttime cityscape of paris that hope thinks is some of her best work. ‘this is crazy! this looks exactly like the view out of mom’s apartment!’

‘that’s because it is,’ hope grins, confident again. ‘the canvas is charmed to show you a cityscape of wherever your mom is. now, whenever you miss her, you can look at it and know where she is.’

‘that’s amazing,’ someone behind the pair breaths out, and hope’s heart clenches almost as if on cue. 

she turns to look at josie and immediately feels relieved. when hope had last seen her, she’d looked shaky and pale and like any strong gust of wind could knock her flat. now, she looks healthy, cheeks rosy and eyes bright. somehow, even just in track pants and her salvatore school sweatshirt, she is still the most gorgeous thing in the world. hope stares at josie as she studies the canvas with interest and lizzie clocks this. 

‘i’m gonna go show this to dad,’ the blonde says, sounding too chipper to be innocent. ‘thanks, hope, this is insane!’

just like that, the twin is gone, like hope’s meddling fairy godmother poofing away in a cloud of chanel no. 5 and louboutins. the energy in the room changes almost imperceptibly, and hope feels oddly nervous as she sits gingerly on lizzie’s bed, across from where josie is now drying off her still-damp hair with a towel. 

‘drying spells just make it so frizzy,’ she says by way of explanation. 

hope nods sagely, not really knowing how to answer that. josie finally drops the towel and sighs tiredly. she studies hope with her deep eyes, and hope holds the eye contact for a moment before it turns too intense and she has to turn her attention to lizzie’s bright bedspread. she almost misses the hand that reached out to her, but grabs it the moment it reaches out across the space between the beds. josie softly pulls hope over to her bed and sits quietly as hope settles and turns to face her. 

‘are you okay?’ hope asks softly. she doesn’t know why her voice drops to a whisper, but this moment feels so much more intimate that any other interaction they’ve ever had.

‘yeah,’ josie says easily, but hope doesn’t think she’d ever say otherwise. the girl looks down at her hands then over to hope, who tries not to look like she pities josie. hope knows what it’s like to be tiptoed around, and she never wants to treat josie like some breakable object. she’s probably gotten a lot of that lately. 

‘what about you?’ josie finally asks.

it’s hope’s turn to look away. ‘what about me?’ 

she’s brought back to her friend by josie placing her hands on either side of hope’s face. josie has always had a sad looking face, all pouty lips and downturned eyes, but now she just looks concerned. ‘are you okay? mg told me what happened.’

their friend’s name is enough to bring all the emotion back and hope lets her head rest in josie’s hands. she screws her eyes closed to fight the tears back and takes a deep breath. ‘i screwed up, josie, really bad. i thought i could figure that necromancer out and get some answers, but instead i helped almost open a portal to hell and got my friend in trouble.’

almost as if she knows there’s more, josie stays quiet.

‘and he said all this stuff about my dad,’ she finally says. ‘that he didn’t regret his choice and he died with love in his heart. but he also said my dad wasn’t at peace because i wasn’t. but i thought i _was_.’

josie lets her hands fall from hope’s face, and hope immediately misses the contact. she chases josie’s hands a little bit without meaning to, which makes the other girl smile softly. ‘do you believe him?’

‘i don’t know,’ hope admits. ‘i don’t want to, because then that would be horrible. but at the same time, if i don’t and i’m wrong…’

‘that would be worse,’ josie nods. hope nods as well, grateful that someone understands. ‘what if the necromancer was only half right? he was trying to get a rise out of you, for sure. but if your dad died with love for you and never regretted it, that sounds pretty peace-worthy.’

she’s right, hope realizes. it does sound peaceful. ‘still means i’m not at peace.’

‘how could you be?’ josie laughs a little and although hope knows it’s directed at her, it feels more loving than mean. ‘hope, it hasn’t been that long since me and lizzie… since he died. or your mom, for that matter. you’re allowed to be sad and angry and working through it for as long as you need. as emma has told me, it’s normal.’ 

talking to josie is the most comforting thing hope could possibly be doing. she takes a deep breath and just enjoys sitting with jo. ‘i don’t blame you two, you know,’ hope says as an afterthought. 

‘i know,’ josie answers. the look on her face is one hope can’t discern, but she knows it makes her stomach feel funny and her heart speed up. she looks soft, and her lips look very kissable, and right as hope is leaning in and josie’s breath is speeding up, lizzie busts in the room. the girls jump apart and lizzie very kindly pretends to not have noticed. 

‘dad loved it, hope,’ lizzie says brightly. ‘he also wants to know where you possibly could have learned that spell, but i refused to comment because it seemed not very school-sanctioned.’

‘thanks,’ hope says, but it’s a little to high pitched to sound normal. 

‘jo, dad wants to know if it’s a stay in and watch old movies sort of night, or a go into town and get milkshakes from the grill kind of night.’

josie clears her throat and stands up, but she’s still blushing and hope feels oddly satisfied that she made her that way. ‘milkshakes sounds nice,’ she answers, grabbing a pair of shoes from her half unpacked suitcase and meeting lizzie at the door. as the twins are about to exit, josie turns back to look at hope. ‘think about what i said,’ she says. ‘and talk to mg. he misses you as much as you miss him.’ 

just like that, they’re gone. hope can still hear them chattering and laughing in the hall and listens to josie giggle until they’ve turned a corner and are out of her range of hearing. she inhales deeply, places her hands on her face where josie’s had sat, and fights the smile that wants to grown on her face. god, had she really been about to kiss josie saltzman? and had she been about to let her? 

hope gets up and out of the twins’ room before she spirals and gets too in her head about her relationship with josie. she stops by her own room to pick up a comic book that mg had lent her and makes her way over to the vampire wing. hope gets a few odd looks for being in this part of the dorms, but no one stops her, so she keeps going. 

no one says anything when she lingers outside mg’s room, either, so hope stands there with her hand outstretched to knock for much too long. finally, a voice behind her makes her jump.

‘so… are we just gonna sit out here until he comes out?’

‘shit, kaleb!’ hope curses as she tried to steady her breathing. the vamp looks very amused as he leans coolly back against the wall. it always takes hope a moment to remember that kaleb is one of the relatively new vampires at the salvatore school, because he carries himself like he’s been alive for a couple hundred years. ‘can i help you?’

‘the better question is can _i_ help you,’ kaleb grins, but he has a hard look in his eyes. ‘i’ll give that back to mg.’ 

‘no,’ hope says quickly as she pulls the comic book out of reach from kaleb’s grabby hands. ‘no, i need to apologize to him and i’m afraid he won’t even see me, so i need a reason to be here.’

kaleb pushes off the wall, and if hope were anyone else, she might be a little intimidated. instead, she holds his gaze as he comes closer and doesn’t step back when he comes much too close. 

‘you’d better grovel,’ he finally says with a sigh. ‘like, hardcore. my boy misses you, but you also got him in a fuck ton of trouble. mg’s too goody-two shoes for this shit, alright? don’t ever ask him to do something like that again.’

‘i won’t,’ hope shakes her head.

kaleb must see that she really means it so he grins, knocks on mg’s door, then runs off, laughing at hope’s protests. hope is still shouting after him when the door in front of her opens, and it makes her quickly snap her mouth shut.

‘hi,’ she says, trying for nonchalant but getting sheepish instead. 

mg looks a little wary but steps out of the way to let her into his room. it’s what hope imagines any teenage boy’s dream room looks like- sneakers lined reverently along the walls, framed collector’s edition comic books, posters of various sports stars and rappers all over the place. she stands awkwardly while mg shuts his door and falls into a huge bean bag; only when he makes eye contact (finally) does hope remember what her pretense for coming was.

‘thanks for lending this to me,’ she says quickly, holding out the comic book like an offering. ‘i think elektra is my favorite, if she can ever stop ruining her relationship with daredevil.’

mg smiles a little as he takes the comic from her hands and puts it at the tops of a pile on his desk. ‘yeah, she’s badass,’ he agrees. hope holds her breath for a moment, thinking that maybe he’ll keep the conversation going and she could ease into her apology, but instead his face falls slightly and he sighs. ‘i don’t have the next one yet, you’ll have to wait a few weeks until dr.s lets me go into town again.’

‘i’m so sorry, mg.’ the apology spills out before hope can shut her mouth. ‘i shouldn’t have asked you to help me when i knew it was going to be dangerous or get us in trouble.’

‘it’s okay,’ the vamp says quietly.

‘no, it’s not,’ hope insists. ‘and i’m sorry.’

the corners of mg’s mouth twitch up and he nods gratefully. ‘thanks for apologizing. i hated not talking to you, but kaleb says i need to stop saying sorry for things that aren’t my fault.’

‘kaleb is right- and i hated not talking to you too. i’ve got so much to tell you!’

after catching mg up to speed on the situation with josie (which he is just as invested in as lizzie), hope gives her friend a tight hug. mg gives arguably the best hugs at the salvatore school, and even though the hug only lasts a minute, she could have easily kept hugging him until the bell that signaled the end of dinner rang. when they pull apart, mg is back to his smiley, bubbly self, and hope feels much better. she says goodnight and leaves him to his ridiculously long night time self care routine.

(hope passes kaleb in the hallway, who gives her an appraising look before nodding in approval at her as if he had heard everything. which he probably had. they probably should have invested in soundproof walls in the vampire wing.)

hope wakes up the next morning feeling refreshed for once in her life. josie is back, mg isn’t mad at her anymore, and no magical monsters attack during breakfast. she wakes up late but gets to the dining hall just as a fresh batch of hot pancakes is being put out. hope forgets her chemistry of magic homework in her dorm, but her teacher forgets to collect it. she gets to skip third and fourth periods because landon comes back, giddy and without a mother but with a letter from freya that says she had found deep seated magic hidden in his blood. all in all, it’s a great day- until it isn’t.

hope’s in civics (a highly boring class, but she’s good at it and therefore top of this class), when lizzie busts through the door, out of breath and looking stressed and worried.

‘why, miss saltzman this is a _classroom_ -’ ms.devany starts but lizzie cuts her off.

‘i couldn’t care less if this were the oval office, ms.devany! hope, i need your help _now_ , it’s jo-’

that’s enough to spur hope into action. the other students around her chitter at the excitement while hope sweeps everything on her desk indiscriminately into her bag and runs to the door. lizzie apologizes quickly to their teacher (‘oh my god, i’m really sorry ms.d, you’re actually my favorite teacher please don’t fail me!’) before sprinting down the hall and towards the second floor girls’ bathrooms. 

when the girls enter, they’re greeted by the sight of josie vomiting into the toilet while penelope park holds back her hair. she’s shaking and sobbing, and hope doesn’t think she’s ever seen penelope look this freaked out. hope shoulders pen out of the way to wipe the tears from josie’s face and the girl lets her head fall into hope’s chest while she cries. hope shushes her in what she hopes to be a comforting way and rubs her hand slowly up and down josie’s back. 

‘what happened?’ hope finally turns to the other two girls in the room, who have been hovering worriedly while josie calmed down fraction by fraction.

‘i don’t know,’ lizzie admits. ‘park came to get me when the anxiety attack started, but i don’t know what set it off.’

penelope park going to lizzie for help with josie? it’s almost as if hell has frozen over, but the two girls seem more awkward and worried than catty. 

‘i didn’t want to make it worse,’ penelope explains, eyes fixed squarely on something scribbled on the wall. ‘i know i’m not exactly her favorite person. someone knocked over a bottle of black-out in chemistry and turned the whole room pitch black. you know that shit’s suffocating.’

black-out. the goth witches’ favorite potion, because it did exactly as advertised. when hope focuses hard, she can see the faint dark glimmer of it on josie and penelope’s skin. no wonder josie had freaked out- it would have been exactly like being buried alive again.

josie has stopped sobbing outright, but she’s still shaking faintly. there’s no way hope’s letting her go back to class, and she’s sure lizzie and penelope will agree. but they need to move, because class will be out soon and people will want to use the bathroom.

‘okay,’ hope says, taking a deep breath. ‘okay. penelope, will you tell josie’s teachers she won’t be in class for the rest of today? lizzie, go tell your dad what’s going on, but that i’ve got her and she just needs to rest right now. emma too. jo, do you think you can stand up?’

josie nods and leans on hope’s arm to get up. penelope’s gaze lands on josie, then flicks to hope, and she nods, leaving to complete her task. lizzie takes a bit longer, hugging her sister lightly and thanking hope before running off. 

‘i’m okay,’ josie insists as they slowly make their way up to hope’s dorm room. ‘i am, really, you don’t have to do this.’ even as she says it, the brunette starts crying again, and she angrily wipes away the tears.

‘josie.’ hope’s voice is soft as she wraps an arm around her friend. ‘i’m doing this because i want to, not because i have to. it’s okay to need a little help sometimes.’

the irony of hope saying this is not lost on her. josie very graciously doesn’t comment and allows herself to be led into hope’s room and pushed softly onto the bed. she immediately snuggles into the many pillows and watches quietly as hope tries in vain to tidy up her room at least a little.

‘hope, it’s alright,’ josie calls out to her. she’s got a sleepy look on her face, no doubt worn out from crying, and when her hand reaches out slowly, she hardly looks as if she can’t keep it raised for long. ‘come here?’

hope is definitely whipped. she immediately clambers onto the bed next to josie, who flips so that she can lean into hope’s side. hope is certain that the other girl can feel her heart speed up instantly and tries in vain to slow it down. what doesn’t help is the way josie hums contentedly when hope starts to play with her hair and murmurs ‘what would i do without you, hope?’ before falling into a deep sleep.

even though she meant to stay awake and make sure josie doesn’t have any nightmares, hope also falls asleep. her habit of sleeping light helps when there’s a soft tap-tap-tap on the door, and hope gently untangles herself from josie in order to answer it. it’s lizzie, no doubt.

hope is half right. lizzie is there, but so is doctor saltzman, and hope can see mg creeping around the corner.

‘how is she?’ dr.s asks, the crease in between his eyebrows deepening. 

she lets the door open a little wider so that they can see jo on the bed. ‘sleeping. what time is it?’

‘almost 10 o’clock.’ lizzie cranes her neck to see her sister and smiles softly. ‘has she said anything?’

‘no. she fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed. you want me to wake her up to go back to your room?’

‘let her sleep,’ the twin says quickly. ‘hang on, i’ll be right back.’ 

as she runs off, the headmaster looks to hope gratefully, but also like he knows something interesting. ‘thank you, hope. for- for everything.’

‘of course. she’s my best friend.’ hope tries not to squirm under his gaze.

dr.s just hums and raises his eyebrows, and hope is saved by the return of lizzie, who comes bearing a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush. 

‘for jo, when she wakes up,’ she explains breathlessly. 

just then, the curfew bell chimes, and ric leaves the kids to say goodnight. lizzie hugs hope tightly, and passes over the clothes for josie. hope sees mg start to slip away, so she calls out to him.

‘hey, mg!

the boy knows he’s been caught, so he comes over. hope knows that he’s got a thing for lizzie, but when lizzie’s eyes catch his, they slide off just as quickly and her cheeks turn slightly pink. now that’s interesting! hope had just wanted to give him an update on josie, but maybe she could be just as meddling as they had been with her and josie. 

‘you doing alright?’ hope asks nonchalantly.

mg stares at lizzie just a second too long before he remembers hope. ‘uh, yeah. just worried about jo.’

this answer seems to satisfy lizzie, and she smiles at him brightly. hope is afraid mg might die of a heart attack right there in the hallway.

‘hey, this might be stupid, but i’ve got a request.’ that gets both of their attentions quickly. ‘can you two just keep each other company tonight? i’ll feel a lot better knowing you’re not worrying about her alone.’

for a second, hope isn’t sure it’ll work. lizzie stares mg down, and though his ears turn pink, he holds it together.

‘what are your plans for tonight, vampire?’ 

‘well, i mean- uh, i was just gonna watch a few episodes of love and hip hop then finish mixing a new song,’ he stutters.

‘atlanta, hollywood, new york or miami?’

‘atlanta, for sure.’

hope has no clue what they’re talking about, but assumes it has something to do with the show mg had mentioned. 

‘okay,’ lizzie concedes. she brushes her hair behind her ear and this time, her smile is less sure and a little more shy. 

mg leads lizzie off towards the vamp wing and cracks a joke that makes her giggle, so hope feels that her mission is accomplished. she shuts the door to her room softly so as not to wake josie, but when she turns around hope finds her sitting up in bed. 

‘are you playing matchmaker for lizzie and mg?’ josie asks slyly. she’s actually smiling, so she must feel at least a little better.

‘they’re both oblivious,’ hope defends herself, ‘and also very meddling. so i was just giving them a taste of their own medicine.’

‘sounds fair,’ josie says as she falls back onto the bed. hope catches that she never asks how or what they had been meddling in, but tries not to dwell too long on it.

instead, she raises the bundle of clothes. ‘lizzie brought you pjs and a toothbrush.’

jo groans gratefully, takes the clothes, and goes into the bathroom to change. hope puts her nervous energy into finishing the tidying up she had started earlier and putting on her own comfy clothes. she waits on the bed until josie comes back, arms and face a little wet from trying to scrub off the left over shimmer from the black-out on her skin. 

josie lays back down on the bed and rests her head in hope’s lap. hope’s hands almost mindlessly go to her hair, carding through it and massaging her scalp. 

‘do you want to talk about it?’ hope asks quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace they had created.

‘not really.’ the siphoner closes her eyes and sighs. ‘but i know i should.’

hope simply hums. she knows josie will start to talk once she’s ready.

‘i really did think i was okay,’ she says finally. ‘i thought that seeing mom and talking to emma and acting like i was fine would be enough. but it wasn’t.’

‘oh, baby.’ hope helps josie sit up and runs a thumb across her cheek. she looks like she was fighting tears again, and hope holds her face in her hands softly. they are almost exactly paralleling their positions during their talk just the day before. ‘i wish it was that easy.’

she waits a moment while josie steadies her breathing, then continues. ‘i know i’m not one to talk about dealing with your grief, but take it from yourself: you’re allowed to take as long as you need to get through it. not as long as lizzie needs, not as long as your dad needs. when we were compelling that townie girl sasha to forget arachne and how her friend died, i asked mg to make her remember all the good times they had together, no matter how much it hurt to hear that she was dead. i don’t know… maybe one day you’ll be able to look at that gorgeous dress you wore on your birthday and remember how josette helped you with your hair and how she made you laugh instead of how she was possessed and tried to kill you.’ 

josie listens hard, then takes a minute to process. when she comes back to the present, she smiles, and takes hope’s hands into her own. ‘it was a really pretty dress,’ she laughs a little, but then she stills. ‘thank you, hope. that actually really helps.’ 

‘of course.’ hope returns the smile.

they sit quietly on the bed, enjoying each other’s company. jo is rubbing circles on hope’s hand with her thumb, and thinking hard.

‘what is it?’ hope asks softly, and the other girl looks a little shy to ask her question.

‘do you have a memory of your dad? i don’t mean...’ josie trails off, looking frustrated that she can’t articulate what she’s feeling and what she wants from hope. ‘not like that. i mean a really good memory, one that you think of when you’re sad? like- where he just was. where he wasn’t klaus mikaelson, he was just your dad?’

hope’s breath hitches ever so slightly, knowing exactly what she means. ‘yes.’ it comes out longing and a little bit sad, but she doesn’t even have time to feel embarrassed and annoyed with herself before the other girl turns to her with wide eyes. 

‘show me?’

the room is still, silent. it’s long after curfew, and the salvatore school is asleep. hope almost feels as though they could be the only people left on earth, waiting out the rest of their days in this odd spot in their relationship asking about dead family and trying to comfort one another. josie’s eyes somehow grow wider at her own question, perhaps not even intending to say it aloud in the first place. she hastily opens her mouth to take it back, but hope makes a split second decision and holds her hands tightly. neither have time to think before hope mutters the latin: _reminisci_. 

the change is instantaneous. the somewhat impersonal walls of hope’s dorm room melt away to show a street she could walk down and name in her sleep. the familiar scent of soul food and stale cigarettes mixed with the sound of someone playing the trumpet on a street corner greet her and she’s home.

‘this is new orleans,’ josie breathes out, dropping hope’s hands in shock. ‘when is this?’

hope doesn’t blame her for sounding awed. in a strange turn of events for such a southern city, little white flurries fall from the sky and there is already a thick layer covering the ground. josie tilts her head up to the sky and lets out a surprised little laugh. it’s the same one hope has been hearing for a decade- whether in the halls at school or in class or even at that horribly awkward family dinner alaric made her attend after everything went down- but somehow it feels different and hope is startled by the way her stomach flutters at the sound. 

‘i was eight,’ hope finally remembers to say. ‘my dad…well, he’d been gone and I didn’t know it at the time, but he was about to leave again. we were sitting in rousseau’s when it suddenly started to snow. his face, jo- he was so excited.’ the nickname slips out, but josie is watching hope with a rapt expression, so hope plows on. ‘after all those years, after everything he’d done and been through, he was still excited by snow. dad practically pulled me outside and-‘

_thwap!_

the sound of snow hitting body is enough to make the two of them jump. there’s a loud hey! and a peal of laughter. hope turns to watch and hears josie huff out a laugh again at the scene.

klaus mikaelson is standing in the middle of the street, face shocked and a little wet as a younger hope stands laughing and frozen, hand still outstretched from throwing her icy projectile. there is a moment, and suddenly klaus is laughing and running after hope, grabbing her and shoving snow down the back of her jacket in retaliation. they look so happy (they were so happy, hope remembers) and it makes hope’s chest feel tight, she misses that feeling so much. but then a small hand is slipping into hers and she can breathe again. when she turns to look up at the taller girl, the siphoner’s eyes are still on the scene in front of them. hope studies her. 

josie, hope has noticed, has a very nice face. honey-chocolate eyes are framed by thick lashes and a button nose sits right above what might be the most wonderful set of lips hope has ever had the immense pleasure to lay her eyes on. josie has always been the more expressive twin; she, unlike lizzie, wears her heart on her sleeve. you always know how she is feeling and what she wants from you. it’s one of the many things hope loves about her. 

just when hope is about to do something stupid and brash and totally uncalled for, like kiss josie, the offending girl gets a cheeky grin on her face and steps away from hope. hope is about to ask her what she’s doing, where she’s going, when josie bends down to pick up some snow. she hardly has time to shield her face before a perfectly packed snowball comes flying at her. 

hope, a proud mikaelson after all, can’t let this slide and forms her own ball of ice, chucking it at jo. before long, the two have devolved into sliding around the deserted new orleans street, trying simultaneously to hit the other while not getting hit themselves. josie is chasing hope when she slips, and even though hope dives for her, not even her perfect balance can save the two of them as they crash to the ground.

josie must not be hurt, because she’s laughing, and her whole body is shaking with it. it’s hope who has the wind knocked out of her because laying on top of her is josie saltzman. she’s not breathing, not moving, with anticipation as they stare at each other. josie’s hair falls to frame her face. she’s backlit and she looks like an actual angel come to save hope from herself. hope can’t help the way her eyes flicker slightly to josie’s lips, then back to her kind eyes.

‘thank you for showing me this,’ josie says softly after she’s caught her breath. 

‘of course.’

there’s a pause, then:

‘i forgot how cute you were when we were little.’

‘i know, what happened?’ the joke is meant to be self-deprecating and deadpan, but hope’s voice is slightly more breathy than normal and she’s pretty sure josie can tell.

‘right? how’d you get even cuter?’

this is the most open they’ve been, not poking or prodding but flirting. not being exactly honest with themselves, but acknowledging that there’s definitely something there. after years of almost friendship, a few weeks of actual friendship has shown them that they could be good together. hope thinks back to sticking up for each other, and sitting in the library, doing nothing but reading and swapping books when one sees something the other might like. to dinner in the dining hall and secret gifts and sharing a bed. the signs had been right there all along. 

‘learned it from you,’ hope shoots back easily.

they stare at each other for only a second before josie is tilting her head down and hope is lifting hers to meet her halfway. the kiss is soft and sweet and hope wants this to be the only thing she does for the rest of her life. she’s so distracted by josie’s lips that the magic begins to fade away until they’re no longer in new orleans but laying on hope’s bed back at school. hope is certain and a little afraid that once jo realizes that the spell is broken she’ll pull away, say ‘thanks for the memory!’ and leave. this fear is at least partially quelled when josie takes the initiative to deepen the kiss and comb her fingers through hope’s hair. 

and if hope lets out a little whine at that, well. she trusts josie not to tell. 

hope’s hands settle on josie’s hips. they only stop their heated kissing when hope flips them so that she is on top and jo lets out a startled laugh, high and clear and loud. it is now hope’s only goal in life to get josie to make this sound all the time. they rest their foreheads against each other and just breathe. 

‘i didn’t know you were…’ josie begins.

‘not straight?’ hope asks wryly.

there’s the laugh again, and hope’s pretty sure josie can feel her heart jump at that sound. 

‘not into landon,’ she corrects, sitting up so that now hope is pretty much sitting in her lap and straddling her. ‘not that I’m complaining. at all.’

that makes hope laugh now. ‘no way. he’s a little preoccupied at the moment and besides, i’m more into girls anyways.’

josie wraps her arms around hope’s shoulders and presses a kiss to her temple. she seems almost nervous now, and hope soon learns why. 

‘i kissed penelope the other night,’ she admits. ‘when...when everything happened.’

‘oh.’ it’s all hope can say. she should have known better than to get her hopes up. 

josie looks worried, and sits up straight when she sees hope’s expression. ‘it was an accident,’ she blurts out, but she sounds like she means it. ‘i almost died and it was purely a stress reaction. i told penelope the very next morning that i didn’t want to be with her. i’m telling you now because i don’t want penelope to tell you and catch you surprised when she inevitably takes it out on you.’

hope sighs in relief and puts her hands on either side of josie’s face. ‘jo, i trust you. if you say it meant nothing to you, then it meant nothing. thank you for telling me.’

the other girl pulls hope to her. the hug is warm and hope feels safe in her arms. ‘i don’t ever want to lie to you. i won’t ever,’ josie says adamantly. ‘no secrets.’

‘no secrets,’ hope parrots back at her. she seals the promise with another kiss and her heart soars as josie goes soft and pliant under her. ‘i wanna take you out,’ hope whispers against the soft skin of josie’s neck as she presses a line of kisses there. ‘is that okay?’

‘god, yes,’ she whines as hope finds her pulse point. ‘maybe i’ll wear my birthday dress, since you seem to like it so much.’

that makes hope laugh. ‘shut _up_ ,’ she says as she shoves josie lightly, making her giggle and unable to take anything too seriously anymore. hope rolls off of josie’s lap to lay on her side and fling an arm over the other girl’s stomach. she sighs and snuggles into jo as she plays with the ends of hope’s hair.

‘is it possible to be so happy that your heart hearts?’ josie whispers. she sounds as giddy as hope feels. hope nods, but she doesn’t know if josie feels it. ‘i’ve wanted this for so long.’

that makes hope sit up. ‘wanted what?’

‘you’re much too smart to be playing stupid, mikaelson.’

‘... _me_?’ hope can’t help how incredulous she sounds. 

‘yes.’ jo sits up to match hope. ‘is that so hard to believe?’

‘no, it’s just-’ the tribrid can hardly contain her small laugh and shakes her head at herself. ‘god, josie, i’ve had a crush on you since i was fourteen years old.’

‘ _excuse me_?’ josie is now adequately caught off guard. ‘are you serious?’

‘yes, i’m serious! ever since that day when you cut your own bangs and wouldn’t let your mom grow them out magically.’

there’s that laugh again. ‘oh, no! those bangs, please they were terrible!’

‘yep.’ hope can’t help the way she watches josie as she scrunches her eyes closed at the memory. ‘you cut them yourself and they were so uneven, but you were too proud to magic them back. you walked into first period latin and hexed sami beckett for laughing, and _that’s_ the moment i fell.’

the memory may be embarrassing for her, but the siphoner looks pleased at the admission. ‘i can’t believe us,’ she sighs. ‘we could have had each other- could’ve been friends, even- for years if we’d just _talked_ to each other.’

hope smiles as she brushes a piece of hair out of josie’s eyes. ‘maybe. but we’re here now and that’s what counts, right?’

josie agrees with a kiss.

~

the next day, jo is gone before hope wakes up. she’s left a note on the bedside table, explaining that she’s gone to grab clothes and that she’ll meet hope at breakfast. hope traces the loopy script with her fingers, remembering the note from weeks prior. she’s never been a morning person, but somehow the promise of early morning josie has her out of bed in an instant. 

she replays every kiss, touch, and whispered admission from the night before on repeat as she makes her way down to the cafeteria. she’s so in her head that she almost walks right past the table that seats the avenger’s squad. hope slides down a bench to sit across from mg and lizzie, and almost misses the shy little way they’re holding hands. 

‘got something to tell me?’ hope asks slyly, revelling in the way it makes them both squirm.

mg can do nothing but find something interesting to look at across the room, but lizzie is stubbornly defiant. ‘do you?’ she shoots back.

‘you first.’

‘ _fine_. last night, milton and i had a conversation where we both realized- oh my god, what has she done to her hair?’

hope’s heart flutters when she whips around to see josie standing in the doorway. josie’s apprehensive expression turns into a wide grin as she sees hope, and she gestures vaguely to her hair. 

bangs. josette saltzman, for the second time in her life, has given herself bangs.

hope can’t help it; she’s up and walking towards her girl without even thinking. jo doesn’t even get out a cheeky ‘do you like it?’ before hope is pulling her down into a hard kiss. she forgets the whispers of the students around her and doesn’t even hear lizzie’s triumphant yelling, because _josie saltzman_ cut her hair for her is kissing her in front of everyone is _hers_. 

they break apart panting and hope is still so lightheaded from the novelty of it all that she doesn’t even protest when josie pulls her to sit back down at the table. lizzie is still in shock, mg is literally so happy that he’s _crying_ , and landon gives hope’s arm a little squeeze. jo doesn’t let go of hope’s hand, and sends her a happy half smile as she asks the rest of the table:

‘so what did you do last night? anyone have any fun?’

kaleb shoots out something funny that cracks the other boys up while lizzie shouts something about _details_ and hope suddenly finds it very hard to breathe. she’s so indescribably happy- she has friends, she has a girlfriend, she is alive and well and accepted for who she is. for a split second she’s sad that her parents aren’t here to see it, but then she remembers what the necromancer said, despite all of their lies. _they are always with you._

so, when hope mikaelson kisses josie saltzman one more time, she sends a little thought to them, wherever they are.

_this one is for you, mom and dad. always and forever._

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY what did y'all think? loved it? hated it? think it was a little weird how i'm dropping season one fics halfway through season two? let me know in the comments below!
> 
> you can also find me on tumblr, where i'm doctor-sharpe, or on twitter where i'm @heIensharpe. the l is a capital i, people.
> 
> live life and remember people: HOPE IS CANONICALLY INTO GIRLS!


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